Rot & Ruin (Rot & Ruin, #1)(73)

It became his obsession, and it consumed every waking second of every day.”

“What happened to the girls?”

“George looked everywhere, and along the way he met more and more people. He met the way-station monks and told them what had happened, and they started spreading the word. He started to

hear rumors. One set of rumors talked about a place called Gameland that a bunch of bounty hunters and travelers had built in the mountains. The things people said about that place really

tore George apart. When he described the girls and the men who had taken them, a lot of people suddenly stopped talking to him. Their fear of the men who ran Gameland was greater even than

their compassion for a couple of lost children. Soon people were actively shunning George. Only the monks tried to help him, and some of those who went out to try to find the girls went

missing.”

“And you don’t think it was zoms who got them?”

“Do you?”

Benny shook his head.

“By the time I ran into George, he was worn out. I told him that I’d spotted one girl, and when I described her, he said that it was Lilah. He begged me to say that I’d also seen Annie,

but I didn’t. … And when I found the spot where I’d seen the girl standing, there was only one set of prints.”

“What happened to Annie?”

“I don’t know for sure. Some of the travelers I met were more willing to talk to me than they were to George. A few of them told me that there was an old rumor about a couple of girls who

had been taken to Gameland and that something bad had happened and only one little girl escaped.”

“No …,” Benny said softly. “Were Charlie and the Hammer involved?”

“George gave me pretty good descriptions of several of the men in the camp. He wasn’t clear about which one hit him or who actually took the girls, but Charlie and the Hammer were

definitely there.”

Benny nodded. The respect he once had for Charlie had transformed into a murderous hatred.

“What happened to George?”

“I don’t know. Brother David said there was a rumor that George had hanged himself, but I don’t believe that. George might be dead, and he might have hanged, but I don’t believe for a

minute that he would have killed himself. Not as long as Lilah was still out there.”

“Somebody killed him?”

“Murder is easy out here.”

They walked on. The horses were looking better, less haggard, and Benny hoped that they’d be able to ride them again and make up the distance he felt they were losing with every minute they

stayed on foot. “If we find Lilah … what do we do?”

“Try to get her to come to Mountainside with us. The kid needs a life, needs people.”

Benny took the card out of his pocket and stared at it, trying to imagine that wild creature going to school, being normal. His mind wouldn’t fit around the concept.

“Come on,” Tom said tersely. “The horses are rested enough. Let’s ride. … Let’s see if we can catch those animals.”





32


BOTH HORSES WERE SPITTING FOAM AGAIN BY THE TIME THEY REACHED the top of the mountain; then the ground leveled out, and they found the fire access road. Like all roads in the Ruin, it was

badly overgrown, but Benny could see footprints, wheel ruts, and dried horse dung that looked recent.

“Is this the route the traders take?”

“Yes. This is the same area where I first saw the Lost Girl,” Tom said. “This is where I found the first couple of zoms that Lilah killed. I told you they were all similar in size and

look.”

“Yeah,” Benny said. “Like she was hunting one person over and over again. Hard to believe that a little girl could do that.”

“What, kill a full-grown man? All it takes is stealth and the right weapons.”

“No,” said Benny. “It’s hard to believe that a little girl could kill anyone. I mean, sure, zoms … but how does a kid get to the point where they want to take a life?”

“Fair question, Ben, but let me ask you one in turn. If Charlie Pink-eye was in front of you, right now this minute, would you want to kill him?”

Benny nodded. “In a heartbeat.”

“You’re sure?”

“After what he did?”

“Even if we get Nix back unharmed?”

“No question about it, Tom.”


Tom studied him for a while before he said, “Couple things about that. I hear you when you say you’d kill Charlie, and for the most part I believe you, but there’s a little hesitation in

your voice. If I’d have asked the same question last night, you’d have said yes without the slightest hesitation, because the hurt was immediate. It was right there in your face. But this

is hours later. The blood cools, and the more distance you put between the heat of passion and any act of commission makes something like killing much harder to do. When people talk about

killing in cold blood, they’re referring to something someone does even after they’ve calmed down and had time to think. If it takes us a month to find Charlie, you might not want him dead

at all. You might want to see him put on trial, you might want to see the system work instead of getting blood on your own hands.”